1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule medical apparatus that is inserted in an inside of organs of a subject like a patient and obtains in-vivo information of the subject; and a method of manufacturing thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a capsule medical apparatus which is a swallowable endoscope provided with an imaging function and a wireless communication function inside a capsule-shaped casing has made an appearance in the field of endoscopes. The capsule medical apparatus is inserted, by being swallowed from a mouth and the like, into an inside of organs of a subject like a patient. The capsule medical apparatus inside the subject then captures images of the inside of organs (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “in-vivo images”) of the subject while traveling the inside of organs according to the peristaltic movement and the like and wirelessly transmits the obtained in-vivo images to an outside of the subject. The capsule medical apparatus sequentially captures in-vivo images along a time sequence and wirelessly transmits the obtained in-vivo images in an order of the time sequence to the outside of the subject during a period which starts when the capsule medical apparatus is inserted into the inside of the subject and ends when it is naturally excreted to the outside of the subject.
The in-vivo images wirelessly transmitted from the capsule medical apparatus in the time sequence order are sequentially received by a receiver placed outside the subject. The receiver stores a group of in-vivo images received in the time sequence order from the capsule medical apparatus in a recording medium attached thereto in advance. After that, the recording medium storing the group of in-vivo images is detached from the receiver and attached to an image display device. The image display device imports the group of in-vivo images in the attached recording medium and sequentially displays each of the obtained in-vivo images on a display. Users such as a doctor and a nurse can observe each of the in-vivo images displayed in the image display device and observe (examine) the inside of organs of the subject through the observation of the in-vivo images.
Here, this capsule medical apparatus is generally manufactured by sealing, in an inside of a capsule-shaped casing, a combination of a button-shaped battery and a series of circuit boards mounting necessary electronic components such as a solid-state imaging device. Here, the series of circuit boards are realized by linearly connecting a plurality of rigid circuit boards (hereinafter referred to as “rigid board”) via a flexible circuit board (hereinafter referred to as “flexible board”) having flexibility and various electronic components are mounted on the plurality of the respective rigid boards. The series of circuit boards on which various electronic components are mounted are sealed in the inside of the capsule-shaped casing in such a manner that the plurality of rigid boards are oppositely arranged at predetermined intervals. On the other hand, the button-shaped battery is arranged in the inside of the capsule-shaped casing in such a manner as to be sandwiched between the plurality of rigid boards (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-198965).